Too Many Secrets by Patricia H. Rushford

Author:Patricia H. Rushford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2014-06-11T21:05:44+00:00

10

Ryan lifted a necklace from the bag. “This thing has to be worth a fortune. There must be fifty diamonds in this one alone.”

Jennie watched it slither out of his hand, moving and shimmering as if it were alive. It caught the morning light and glistened like fire on ice.

She grabbed the necklace and stuffed it back in the sack.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t know how Gram got this stuff, but if the sheriff finds out …” Jennie’s heart was pounding so hard she could hardly think. She tucked the bag back in its hiding place, slipped the panel back in place, and closed the closet door. “We need to keep this hidden. It proves Gram had something to do with the robbery.”

“You think Gram is a thief?”

“N … no,” Jennie stammered, “of course not. It’s just … Oh, Ryan, I don’t know what to think.”

Ryan hooked his arm around her neck. “I know this doesn’t look good, but we need to stay calm. There’s a perfectly good explanation.”

Jennie didn’t know why she found his comment so funny, but she started laughing. “Right,” she hooted. “I can just hear it all now. ‘Gram, why are there stolen diamonds in your closet?’ And she’d smile at me and say, ‘It’s quite simple really, my dear. I’m an international jewel thief.’

“‘Oh, how interesting,’ I’d say. ‘Have you been in the business long?’” Jennie hiccupped. “This isn’t funny, Ryan … why am I laughing?”

“You’re hysterical.”

“Hic … that’s ridiculous. I never get hysterical.” He was right, except for one thing. Jennie had gone a step beyond hysterical. She was a nut case. She hiccupped again.

“Come on.” Ryan grabbed Jennie’s hand and pulled her down the stairs and into the kitchen. He handed her a small paper bag. “Breathe into this.”

Jennie slid down into a chair, and after a few deep breaths, felt the panic edge away. Ryan reheated the tea she’d fixed for breakfast, then knelt beside her and wrapped her hands around the warm cup.

“Drink it.”

She did. After a few sips sanity had returned and with it the cold reality of the secret panel, the diamonds hidden there, and the very real possibility that her own grandmother had stolen them. “What am I going to do?”

“We,” he corrected. “What are we going to do.”

Jennie smiled. “Okay, partner, got any ideas?”

“Just one. We both know Gram isn’t a thief. For one thing, she doesn’t need the money. And if she had stolen them, she’d never implicate you. So we start from that premise.”

“She wrote to me because I’m the only one who knows about the hiding place. She got them somehow … maybe from the real thieves. Maybe she found out who did it and …”

Ryan shook his head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. If she knew who stole the diamonds in the first place, she’d go to the police and have them arrested. She sure wouldn’t keep them herself.”

“Then why are they here?”

“Who knows? Like you said before, there are too many pieces of this puzzle still missing.

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